Dark Tower Film/Series

[rainman2203]

I'm a huge fan of The Dark Tower series by Stephen King (if you couldn't tell from the avatar), and I know that there are others on this site that have read the series as well. I'd be interested to know what my fellow Escapists think about the upcoming adaptation.

J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindeloff, of LOST fame, have taken on the project(for the sum of $19, of course) and are quoted to saying that they plan to start serious work once LOST is over.

I'd like to hear what you guys think about issues/difficulties with adaptation, as well as possible casting for characters and settings. I could discuss this topic for days, so I hope some of you will humor me.

 

[Inverse Skies]

I love the series as well but don't think it could possibly work in any medium other than a book series. Stephen King has a way with words and his books create worlds and themes which I've seen no other writer do. I would go and see them if they were adapted to film/tv/anything else but I know I wouldn't enjoy them as much as the books.

 

[Gaskell]

I am waiting for JJ's Star Trek before I'll lay down on how I think he'll deal with it (mainly because I never watched LOST), but I've only read The Gunslinger, which I didn't enjoy that much, I know people rave about the series but I've not been able to generate a lot of interest in it.
I'll probably end up reading it though, then watching it
I'll save my excitement for Star Trek though

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

Holy hell this would be HARD to adapt, but in TV Series form, assuming they plan for a limited run (5 or 6 seasons?) I believe it's possible.

 

[S.H.A.R.P.]

I read the first book, but it started off rather slow and after finishing it, I laid if off for a while. After a bit, I read nr. 2, and it was more exciting, but still not awesome enough to keep me from other series. I'm now waiting for me to run out of books to read, until I finish the series. I wouldn't watch a series of it until I read all of the books, so I can't contribute much on this topic.

 

[dead_beat_slacker]

I'm a huge fan of The Dark Tower series by Stephen King (if you couldn't tell from the avatar), and I know that there are others on this site that have read the series as well. I'd be interested to know what my fellow Escapists think about the upcoming adaptation.

J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindeloff, of LOST fame, have taken on the project(for the sum of $19, of course) and are quoted to saying that they plan to start serious work once LOST is over.

I'd like to hear what you guys think about issues/difficulties with adaptation, as well as possible casting for characters and settings. I could discuss this topic for days, so I hope some of you will humor me.

Finally someone mentions this,.. I would love to see this work as a film or TV show. I think it be even better if they made it into a HBO Series... since they can get away with more stuff on there. But a film would be hard to pull off,... I mean I can already imagine all the stuff they would leave out. And as far a cast goes,... I think Shia Labeouf would be a good Eddie Dean. Theres alot good actors that could play Roland, viggo Mortensen, Nathan Fillion, Actually this is just me but I can even picture Charlie Sheen. I do know the character is based off of characters from Clint Eastwood movies.

 

[rainman2203]

Finally someone mentions this,.. I would love to see this work as a film or TV show. I think it be even better if they made it into a HBO Series... since they can get away with more stuff on there. But a film would be hard to pull off,... I mean I can already imagine all the stuff they would leave out. And as far a cast goes,... I think Shia Labeouf would be a good Eddie Dean. Theres alot good actors that could play Roland, viggo Mortensen, Nathan Fillion, Actually this is just me but I can even picture Charlie Sheen. I do know the character is based off of characters from Clint Eastwood movies.

Interesting call on casting. I thought of Mortensen as well, and Fillion would work as well given his Malcom Reynolds in Firefly, but I don't know if he could be serious enough. I was pondering Hugh Jackman. I dunno if I could stand Labeouf- he kind of annoys me sometimes, and the way I imagined Eddie is nothing like him.

And it being on HBO would make me sad, as I would have to get HBO. I guess I have to keep up with the times eventually.

 

[Overlord_Dave]

The Dark Tower series is by a million miles the best story I've ever read. I think it would be impossible to do the series justice without at least a trilogy of films, but all seven would probably be necessary.

I just don't think it could be done

 

[oliveira8]

Hmm... I dont really like J.J. Abrams...Lost and Cloverfield never caught my attencion.

Maybe the STar Trek reboot will do it for me.

I read the first book, but it started off rather slow and after finishing it, I laid if off for a while. After a bit, I read nr. 2, and it was more exciting, but still not awesome enough to keep me from other series. I'm now waiting for me to run out of books to read, until I finish the series. I wouldn't watch a series of it until I read all of the books, so I can't contribute much on this topic.

The Dark Tower series starts off very slow. Gets better later. Much better.

 

[Rappletek]

:O i just finished reading them last week...

if done well it could be fantastic.

 

[dead_beat_slacker]

Finally someone mentions this,.. I would love to see this work as a film or TV show. I think it be even better if they made it into a HBO Series... since they can get away with more stuff on there. But a film would be hard to pull off,... I mean I can already imagine all the stuff they would leave out. And as far a cast goes,... I think Shia Labeouf would be a good Eddie Dean. Theres alot good actors that could play Roland, viggo Mortensen, Nathan Fillion, Actually this is just me but I can even picture Charlie Sheen. I do know the character is based off of characters from Clint Eastwood movies.

Interesting call on casting. I thought of Mortensen as well, and Fillion would work as well given his Malcom Reynolds in Firefly, but I don't know if he could be serious enough. I was pondering Hugh Jackman. I dunno if I could stand Labeouf- he kind of annoys me sometimes, and the way I imagined Eddie is nothing like him.

And it being on HBO would make me sad, as I would have to get HBO. I guess I have to keep up with the times eventually.

You know what? Now that you mentioned it Shia would be annoying. Who do you picture?...

 

[JackVykios]

Finally someone mentions this,.. I would love to see this work as a film or TV show. I think it be even better if they made it into a HBO Series... since they can get away with more stuff on there. But a film would be hard to pull off,... I mean I can already imagine all the stuff they would leave out. And as far a cast goes,... I think Shia Labeouf would be a good Eddie Dean. Theres alot good actors that could play Roland, viggo Mortensen, Nathan Fillion, Actually this is just me but I can even picture Charlie Sheen. I do know the character is based off of characters from Clint Eastwood movies.

Shia la...no. No. Just...just don't. That boy has one roll in him, and that's the one his body will make upon landing after being fired out of a cannon into the sun.

Nathan Fillion's awesome...but I can't see him as Roland. Viggo would be good, but I can only see Dark Tower working as a TV series, with TV production values. Hmm...Michael Vartan, perhaps? I don't know...J J Abrams is excellent at finding unknowns. As such, I honestly can't picture anyone filling the roles.

 

[CymTyr]

If it's stretched out appropriately and not crammed into 2-4 hours then I think it will do well, but if it's made for TV a lot of material will be censored, so it won't have the same impact as the books.

I'd cast Nick Nolte as Roland's instructor and Jeff Bridges as Roland's father.

 

[rainman2203]

Finally someone mentions this,.. I would love to see this work as a film or TV show. I think it be even better if they made it into a HBO Series... since they can get away with more stuff on there. But a film would be hard to pull off,... I mean I can already imagine all the stuff they would leave out. And as far a cast goes,... I think Shia Labeouf would be a good Eddie Dean. Theres alot good actors that could play Roland, viggo Mortensen, Nathan Fillion, Actually this is just me but I can even picture Charlie Sheen. I do know the character is based off of characters from Clint Eastwood movies.

Interesting call on casting. I thought of Mortensen as well, and Fillion would work as well given his Malcom Reynolds in Firefly, but I don't know if he could be serious enough. I was pondering Hugh Jackman. I dunno if I could stand Labeouf- he kind of annoys me sometimes, and the way I imagined Eddie is nothing like him.

And it being on HBO would make me sad, as I would have to get HBO. I guess I have to keep up with the times eventually.

You know what? Now that you mentioned it Shia would be annoying. Who do you picture?...

Maybe Ryan Reynolds? I dunno though- no one immediately springs to mind for Eddie or Susannah, though I will admit I'm not well versed on prominent black actresses. You could probably pick up any kid and have him play Jake.

 

[ace_of_something]

All I can say is if it's done like 'lost' I might just hurt somebody.

I guess I could see Nathan Fillion as Roland if he got a bit more muscley and had his eyes turned blue.
You'd want a comedian or someone like that to play Mr. Broadcloak. Maybe Robin Williams as he could easily play the pop-culture, anacronistic nature of Martin. He can also be quite scary. (See; One Hour Photo)

 

[cleverlymadeup]

i think it would have to be a series with a few seasons, it could not work as a movie or a copule movies

i think JJ would do a good job, he can do some good odd sci-fi

 

[Bullfrog1983]

It would make a great series stretched over several years (using each book/year), but I would definitely want Stephen King to be the one controlling the casting rather than anyone else since he knows better than anyone else whom the roles would most suit. I don't really see any problems arising from any scenes from the novel... but when I imagine them I always think there will be heavy amounts of computer integrated special effects and video editing involved (the doors from the Drawing of the Three, Thinnys from Wizard and Glass, etc.) The biggest hurdle for the people directing/shooting this project would have to be the process of cutting unnecessary parts of the story.

If you have a link to the story concerning this can you please send it to me? I'd love to take a look at it.